The Republic of the Maldives is the smallest country in Asia, both by
landmass and population.
It is also the country with the lowest
elevation on Earth, rising to only 1.5 meters above sea level. Due to
climate change, the Maldive Islands are under threat of rising sea
levels.
In 2012 President Mohamed Nasheed called his country the 3rd
most at risk from flooding due to climate change, even stating that, “If
carbon emissions continue at the rate they are climbing today, my
country will be underwater in seven years.”

While President Nasheed’s predictions may sound extreme, there are
legitimate concerns about the future of the Maldives.
In 2007, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted
that most of the 200-some islands that make up the Maldives will need
to be abandoned by 2100.
It seems like it may be too late to
slow climate change in time for the survival of this tourist paradise
and there are plans to buy up land in other Asian-Pacific countries for
future climate refugees from the Maldives.

Praised as a pristine eco-destination and a nation that is abandoning
fossil fuels (as well as a symbol for what the world is losing through
burning them) the Maldives stands on figurative high ground if not
literally so.
It is also a diver’s paradise where one can spot the
illusive and rare whale shark.

Because the island sits only one meter above sea level, environmentalists worry that toxic waste could leach into the water.

Yet there is a dirty secret that has helped to keep most of the
Maldives clean, pristine and litter free.
It is Thilafushi, a manmade
island of rubbish — a landfill in paradise, overflowing with floating
plastic waste.
It is estimated that around 330 tons of garbage are
brought to Thilafushi daily — so much that the island is physically
expanding by about one square meter with each new day.
The hazardous
waste that is mixed in with the regular rubbish in the landfill has lead
to Thilafushi being described by local environmentalists as a “toxic bomb“.

Thilafushi lagoon fill, with used batteries,
asbestos, lead and other potentially hazardous waste mixed with the
municipal solid wastes, is an increasingly serious ecological and health
problem in the Maldives. Even though batteries and e-waste are quite a
small fraction of municipal waste disposed at the Thilafushi, they are a
concerted source of toxic heavy metals such as mercury, lead and
cadmium. Chemicals can leach out into water table or sea and endanger
the surrounding sea and reefs.
—Maldives environmental activist group Bluepeace

Thilafushi aerial view

Links :

: Filmmaker Alison Teal has made a documentary about her time in the
Maldives, including footage of her riding her surfboard through piles of
floating plastic garbage.

Check out some remarkable photos of Alison’s
trip to the garbage island here.